ROCHESTER — It will be 15 years ago this September that the lives of Scott Kennedy and his family were changed forever.

On Sept. 11, 1994, Scott and his wife, Susan, 46, both of Somersworth, were out for a leisurely bicycle ride on Flagg Road. Their daughter, Carrie, said they had never biked that road before. She said her parents were "in the wrong place at the wrong time."

That afternoon bike ride turned deadly when a woman under the influence of alcohol and "full of rage and anger" after a fight with her boyfriend over visiting relatives, purposely drove her truck into the westbound lane at the couple, she said.

Scott Kennedy swerved out of the way just in time, but the truck struck Susan Kennedy, sending her flying into a nearby wooded area. Despite his best efforts to administer CPR to his wife, Susan died that day.

The woman driving the truck, Joveta Wyman, now 69, of Rochester, has spent 15 years in the state prison for women in Goffstown. She is to be released from the facility on Sept. 6 after a parole board deemed her eligible for release at a hearing last week. Kennedy's family contested that 15 years was not a fair sentence for a woman who took the life of a mother of three forever.

"How do you put time on that?" Carrie Kennedy asked. She added that while the family respected the parole board's decision, "we were very disappointed."

John Eckert, the parole board's executive assistant, said the board based its decision on Wyman's behavior while incarcerated. He said she participated in a number of rehabilitation and mental health programs and classes on life and coping skills.

Board members also based their decision on the "stable living situation" Wyman plans to enter into upon her release, Eckert said. She plans to move to California to live with her daughter. She told the board her goal is to provide support for other women in prison, he said.

Her daughter promised the Kennedys she will watch her mother responsibly and "be the first one to call the authorities" if necessary, Carrie Kennedy said.

Fifteen years in prison is the minimum sentence for Wyman, who pleaded guilty on Sept. 1, 1995 to a count of manslaughter. She was sentenced to 15-30 years in prison, with 355 days pretrial confinement credit, Eckert said. Her release date if she served the maximum would be Sept. 2, 2024, which is the date her parole period expires.

Eckert said Wyman "expressed a great deal of remorse" during the parole hearing. The hearing took place on two separate days to give the Kennedys a chance to voice their opinions. Carrie Kennedy, along with other family members, attended the hearing on Thursday. She said Wyman "couldn't begin to explain how sorry she was."

Wyman appeared for the hearing through a video feed from the prison. Kennedy said the family turned off a monitor near them so they could not see her face, though they still heard her words of contrition.

"You could just hear her sobbing," Kennedy said. "I forgave her a long time ago. Her apology gives me some peace."

While she said she forgave Wyman, she added that she finds satisfaction in the "great burden" Wyman now faces.

On the morning of Sept. 11, 1994, Wyman was angry about a fight with her boyfriend. Eckert said "apparently there was some stress that morning," and she got in her truck and drove off, tires squealing out into the driveway. She attempted to strike another vehicle on the road before deliberately hitting Susan Kennedy, Carrie Kennedy said.

Wyman also failed a field sobriety test at the scene. As Kennedy said, "She had scotch for breakfast. That was the famous quote."

Wyman's parole is contingent upon there being no alcohol in her daughter's home.

Kennedy still remembers the call she and her siblings, Laura and Lance, got from their father after Susan was killed. They were all students at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.

"Mom's with the Lord," Scott Kennedy told his shocked children. Carrie Kennedy said she could not put into words the "sheer horror" they felt at that moment.

But the family persisted. They leaned on each other throughout the grieving process. "It was a blessing all three of us were at the same school. We were lucky," she said.

Carrie also leaned on her school work, earning the rank of summa cum laude in her graduating class. "I had to focus on doing my best in school because emotionally, it was too difficult," she said.

Kennedy said the incident "drastically impacted everyone" in her family. She still struggles with the loss, but friends still remind her to this day how her mother's smile "lit up the room." She said friends posted messages to her on her Facebook page recently, saying how lucky she was to have a mother like Susan.

"I had 19 wonderful years with my mother and she'll always be with me," Kennedy said. "I don't want mom to be forgotten."

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